Emerson • Hillsdale • Montvale • Park Ridge • River Vale • Township of Washington • Westwood • Woodcliff Lake
PA S C AC K VA L L E Y ’ S H O M E TO W N N E W S PA P E R
VOLUME 27 ISSUE 32
PASCACK VALLEY
EYE ON VALLEY’S SCHOOL
Michael Olohan spotlights the candidates
BOARD RACES
OCTOBER 23, 2023
HELP POWER THE BIG PARADE
Deadline Nov. 15 for Home for the Holidays
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
Five of six local school board races in the General Election Nov. 7 are contested in Pascack Valley towns, with one townʼs school board uncontested, and a highly competitive contest for Westwood and Washington Township seats on the regional K–12 districtʼs school board. Only one seat, representing Woodcliff Lake, is contested on the Pascack Valley Regional High School District Board of Education. While 10 candidates are vying for four seats on the Westwood Regional School District, local school districts such as Montvale and Woodcliff Lake have double the number of candidates vying for two open seats on each board. As weʼve reported, due to increasingly fractious and divisive school board meetings, generally over issues such as the state-mandated health and sex education curriculum, LGBTQ+ and Pride support, and “parental rights,” some boards have become lightning rods for community battles over social, religious, and occasionally, educational issues. On the two regional boards, Pascack Valley Regional High School District and the Westwood Regional School District, the Westwood district remains a highly contested district this November, while only one seat on the Pascack Valley Regional BOE is being challenged. The PVRHS District had four vacancies, two from Hillsdale, one from Montvale and one from Woodcliff Lake. In uncontested races in Hillsdale, incumbents Kristen Martin
See EYE on page 104
D
Heartwarming moments abound in Westwood’s Home for the Holidays 2022. Richard Frant photos
UST OFF your jingle bells, Pascack Valley! The Westwood Recreation Department and parade planning committee are pleased to announce “Santaʼs Elves” as the theme for this yearʼs Home for the Holidays parade set for Dec. 2. Local organizations and youth groups interested in hosting a float or marching in the parade can register by filling out a short form at https://tinyurl.com/HFTH2023 or by emailing Westwood Recreation Supervisor RoseAnn Ciarlante at rciarlante@westwoodnj.gov.
Continued on page 26
Home for the Holidays is the unofficial start of the winter holiday season in the Pascack Valley.
HILLSDALE
KIDS TO SEE ROCKETTES COURTESY SAFETY FEST SUPPORTERS Joanʼs Joy marks 30th festival with traditional butterfly release; retired police chief Mikulski speaks; peek into new book
Proceeds from the 30th Annual Joanʼs Joy Child Safety Fest fundraiser, held Sept. 30 in Hillsdale, are sending youth in the YCS Holley Center and YCS Davis House in Newark to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes. Funds also are going toward “necessities for the orphaned children of Ukraine who have been hurt by the war,” and “art counseling for grieving children who need help affording it.” And funds will go toward needed work on The Joan Angela DʼAlessandro White Butterfly Sculpture and Garden, adjacent to the train station downtown. The festival, powered by Rosemarie and her sons John and Michael and a small army of other volunteer supporters, took place 30 years after the rise of Rosemarie DʼAlessandroʼs self-described movement to keep Joanʼs killer, a sexual predator, in prison, rather than see him eligible for parole under a loophole. (He eventually died in prison.) A highlight of the festival: a
See KIDS on page 84
MAKING A ‘WISH’
B ck in time...
Carmella Madlinger, an IHA junior, is doing her part to furnish new expectant mothers with needed baby supplies. PAGE 21
“Longtime Emersonians will recognize this site in a flash. This is a snapshot of Kinderkamack Road captured one autumn day in the mid1960s…” Kristin Beuscher reports. PAGE 4